Taking Chances
by SingsongRandom
Summary: "Have I ever been wrong about you before?" Of course he hasn't, and Liz knows it. Jack/Liz


** Disclaimer: I do not own _30 Rock_.**

Jack takes a sip of his scotch, eyes glazing over her figure leisurely. "Lemon," he starts, "what would you say if I asked to kiss you?"

Caught by surprise, her body language immediately changes. Her eyes widen, muscles tense, her cheeks grow hot. Liz gulps. Of course she's _thought _about kissing Jack, but never seriously. She's thought about that moment where their eyes would meet, he would take her hand, and pull her in slowly..._No, no, what are you saying? _She silently scolds herself. This was _Jack_, after all; her best friend, her confidant. He was just Jack.

In response to his startling question, Liz begins to clap. Loudly.

Jack's brows furrow. "Lemon, what are you doing?"

She claps more furiously. "I'm sleeping. This is what I do to wake myself up." She slaps her knees, stomps her feet, then smacks her palms together again.

Jack gives her a funny look. "You have serious issues, you do know that."

Liz sighs. "Am I not sleeping then?"

He shakes his head. "Lemon, if you were sleeping, I would know. You have a tendency to snore."

"How would you know -"

"It's a gift," he replies, sitting up a little straighter. "You still haven't answered my question."

Liz nods. "Right, right. Uh..." she bites her lip. "I do know that."

"Do know what?"

"You said, 'You have serious issues, you do know that'. That was the question, wasn't it?"

Jack sighs. "Stop playing games, Lemon. If you don't want to kiss me, you can tell me. I'm a big boy." He grins.

Liz Lemon's nervous habit was eating. Whatever food item was available at that moment - crackers, onions, or the occasional wax fruit - she would shove in her mouth to avoid the situation. Another nervous habit was laughing. At times, the rush of adrenaline would cause her to perspire. This unfortunate combination made for a very awkward Lemon during tense circumstances.

This happens to be one of those times.

Her eyes dart around the room quickly for anything to eat, and the first thing she catches sight of is a plate of ribs sitting on top of Jack's desk. Without thinking, she reaches for it and starts to gnaw. She also breaks into an unexpected convulsion of laughter and suddenly sweat is pouring down her face.

It's unsightly. Jack nearly gags.

"Good God, Lemon, what in the name of all that is business are you doing?"

Still laughing uncontrollably, she sets the rib down on top of some important-looking document and wipes her forehead, leaving a trail of barbeque sauce streaked across her face. "It's - kinda - hot - in - here!" she manages through the laughter. "Isn't - it?" She grabs her stomach, ready to topple over.

A sweaty, guffawing, barbeque-covered mess, Liz thinks that maybe it would have just been easier to answer the first question.

Jack, mouth agape, is unsure of how to act. Sure, he's been involved in crazy situations with her before; but now she seems to have lost all sanity and control of any body part as she prances around the room twitching.

Nonetheless, he gets to his feet and takes a hold of her wrists. "Lemon, listen to me. Forget about what I said before, you just need to...calm down."

She nods in understanding and presses her arm to her forehead while trying to catch her breath as the laughter ceases. She makes her way slowly to the couch and collapses onto it.

"If you get any sauce on that furniture, Lemon, you can forget about a Christmas bonus," Jack calls from the restroom, where he is retrieving a damp towel for Liz.

"That's not true," she mumbles, but it's muffled because her face is buried in one of the cushions. "You feel too sorry for me to do that."

He sighs as he emerges with the towel. "And," he adds, handing it to her to wipe her face, "I like you too much to do that."

She situates herself on the couch and begins to rub the towel across her forehead. "What's wrong with me, Jack?" she asks finally, shoulders slumped.

Jack looks down. "So many things, Lemon. So many things."

"It's your fault, you know."

He looks up at her sharply. "What do you mean?"

She crosses her arms. "If you hadn't asked me that _stupid _question in the first place, I wouldn't have gone all -"

"Completely insane?" He finishes.

Liz sighs. "Where did that come from anyway?" The tension is mostly gone now and Liz's nerves have calmed after the bizarre episode. "What made you say that?"

Jack stands and crosses the room to his thinking window. Gazing out at the city, whose bluish glow in the twilight overhang is just starting to change to silver, he takes a deep breath. "I was taking a chance, Lemon," he says finally.

Liz's brows furrow. "What?" she asks.

"I was taking a chance," he tells her. "I wanted to see what you might say. Or do. Or both."

Liz bites her lip. He was trying to be sweet - _in a twisted sort of way_, she thinks, but after a thorough explanation, she was sure that it was nothing more than an innocent inquiry. "What if I had said no?" she asks.

Jack raises an eyebrow and turns to look at her. "Then I would have respected that," he says. "But if you had said yes..."

"I didn't, though," Liz points out quickly, hand fidgeting slightly.

"You didn't say no either."

She pauses, knowing that winning against Jack was next to impossible, so instead of saying anything she merely shrugs.

"So if you had answered the question," Jack continues, "what would you have decided?"

Liz looks away from him. "It was a hypothetical question, so I feel no need to answer it."

Jack chuckles slightly. "Oh. I see."

Puzzled, she glances in his direction. "Wait a second. Stop sending mixed signals now, Jackie boy. What are you getting at?"

He waltzed toward the couch, picked up his glass, and took another sip. "You want to kiss me."

She rolls her eyes. "If I wanted to kiss you, don't you think I would have said yes already?"

He shakes his head slowly, sitting across from her. "Not necessarily. You see, Lemon, you're the type who bottles up all her feelings, letting every emotion intertwine inside your fragile little heart, and you let your mind get in the way - then all those feelings, whatever they may be, fester until you cannot take the pressure anymore, and you have a - well, whatever that was." With a hand, he indicates the spot where her performance was held.

By the time his speech is finished, Liz's eyes are narrowed at him. "That is _not _true, Jack Donaghy."

Unfazed by her stare, he says simply, "Have I ever been wrong about you before?"

Liz sighs. Despite what a jerk Jack could be at times, he was definitely always right about her. She decided to ignore the question.

"Taking chances," she says. "What did you mean by that?"

Jack thinks for a moment, then tells her, "You fascinate me. Lemon, I'm a business man. I attend the most important parties with the most important socialites; I've dated models, and actresses, and Condoleezza Rice; every man in my line of business wants to be me. I have the looks, the charm, and let's face it, who could ask for anything more?"

"Get to the point," Liz says.

"The point is," Jack continues, "that we're here now. You and me. Nobody else. There's no crowd, no hype. You're not an actress, you're not a model, and you're most _definitely _not Condi -"

"The point?" Liz snaps.

"Right," he says, "but you're you. And I suppose I was just wondering if someone like you would ever go for someone like me."

For the first time in his office that night, Liz smiles. A genuine smile, not one that precedes an outrageous fit of laughter - but a smile that appreciates every word that's just been said to her. "Well," she says, the smile never leaving her face, "you are quite the catch, Jack."

"Is that a yes then?"

Liz thinks a moment. "Uhm...yes. Yes, it is a yes. Okay? Goodnight, Jack."

She rises and so does he, reaching for the towel. "Wait, Lemon, you've still got barbeque sauce all over your mouth -" He presses the towel to her lips and gently rubs. They look into each other's eyes for a few brief moments, and when Jack drops the towel, he pulls her into a half-unexpected kiss.

She doesn't resist and he's glad for that - although, he anticipated that she wouldn't. He just knew her. She placed her arms around his neck and he pulled her in closer, until she finally broke away.

"Jack?"

"Mhm?"

"Why were there ribs on your desk anyway?"

**The End.**


End file.
